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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25400341">continuation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceantail/pseuds/Oceantail'>Oceantail</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Belle POV (A Christmas Carol), Canon Dialogue, F/M, Prompt Fill, this was a creative writing thing i did in middle school</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 02:35:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>581</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25400341</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceantail/pseuds/Oceantail</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Write about Scrooge's change in personality</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Belle/Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), Past Belle/Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>continuation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Belle squirmed in her seat. Why did time have to tick by so damn </span>
  <em>
    <span>slowly</span>
  </em>
  <span>? Sitting in the meeting room while her boring boss rambled on about something was not the most exciting thing she had ever experienced. Finally, after what felt like eons, they were dismissed. Half-running half-skipping, Belle bounded through the snow and… smashed into something. Groaning, she picked herself up and glared at the person who had smashed into her. Ebenezer Scrooge. Belle knew him. Ebenezer was one of the most cheerful people in the village despite his rather strained relationship with his father. He was incredibly social and jolly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” he asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Belle grinned in spite of herself. “I’m all right. It’s okay”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked at her, concern filling his gaze. “Are you sure? I can bring you back to your home or even buy you some hot chocolate on the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, thank you. I’m fine, really.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon, they became incredibly close to each other. The people of the village always whispered about how it wouldn’t be long before she would become Belle Scrooge. It was only a matter of time they claimed. And so the villagers waited. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then he </span>
  <em>
    <span>changed</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Ebenezer became colder and began to distance himself from Belle. This tragic series of events shattered her heart. She loved the young man whose heart was golden and full. Not this creature who was filled with too much ambition for a human to hold. He began to work countless hours alone in his office accumulating money and then hoarding it. He was becoming the richest man in town, and yet he kept the money, not using it for its purpose. Descending into his own spiral of loneliness Ebenezer soon forgot the meaning of love and happiness. Inevitably, Belle was forced to sever ties with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You may -- the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will -- have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen.”</span>
</p><p><span>When Belle fell in love again she tried to forget about Ebenezer. Her new fiance, Cliff, was a man she had meet in a store. He loved her and she loved him. A year later they were newly wedded. And though they settled in a small house on the edge of the city, Belle was satisfied. Nine months later, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, whom they named Brian. So, she was living in a tiny hut with a low-paying job and a child to care for, but she couldn’t have been happier. Even though she tried to forget Ebenezer, she couldn’t help marvel how he had changed so abruptly. He was once so social and cheerful. But now, his back was became hunched, his hair had grown gray and his temper had grown shorter. His business, Scrooge and Marley</span> <span>became crippled after the sudden death of Marley. Children kept their distance from him. People spun on their heels and hurried away at the sight of the wretched man. </span></p><p>
  <span>Another seven years passed. It was Christmas Eve. She was walking down the street to buy a small meal for her family, and she saw the strangest thing. Ebenezer was outside singing a Christmas carol with the Cratchit family. Ebenezer. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Her </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ebenezer. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I guess he changed after all. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I always knew he would. </span>
  </em>
</p>
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